Ok, i’m going to try night riding to see what the fuss is about. I need lights, which ones do people recommend? I noticed that merlin has a 20% discount this weekend…

Also will I need two, one for the helmet and one for the bars?

Borrow some first. Loads of shops do demos.

Personal recommendation is for ay up. Light powerful and great support.

IME two choices really; home produced (Exposure, Hope etc) or ebay/Far East.

The latter are cheaper, the former usually better designed and nicer to use.

If you’ve the money, Exposure Joystick (helmet) and whichever Exposure big light for the bars – this is what I have. Nice to use, no trailing wires, dependable shine-times etc.

Ebay-wise, you can’t go wrong with the standard flashlight/MagicShine combo.

No experience of Trout/Smudge.

home produced (Exposure, Hope etc)

Aren’t Exposure a U.S. Company ?. Its no big deal, I just thought they were a U.S. brand ?.

i use a bar mounted troutie.com dominator. awesome light

Can’t go wrong with these for the money: http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-lights/
They are chinese made but come with a full UK backup…a few of my mates have bought from here and had no problems at all.
For just over £200 you could have a 2000 lumen bar light and a 1000 lumen helmet light.
If I wasn’t making a light, I’d be going this route..

+1 for mtb batteries/smudge . Service second to none, uk company and top top lights for a great price.

I just ordered Smudge’s Luminator last night. I know he’s busy but I’m hoping it arrives in time for next wednesdays night ride, I’ll happily post a mini review.

You recon I could get away with just one light on the bars? Will try and borrow some before i buy. Thanks for the advice!

I love the versatility of bar and head lights. I really rate my ayups. Tempted to get a second set for the wife. Double up nicely for running, dog walking, camping etc.

I’m giving the Lezyne Micro drive light another chance. The first one broke in five minutes. just bought one from the merlin sale there for £35. it was great when it worked and easy to charge up at work, tiny little thing, bright enough for commuting offroad away from any lights and the flash was very bright.

Hopefully this one will last a bit longer.

Aren’t Exposure a U.S. Company ?. Its no big deal, I just thought they were a U.S. brand ?.

No, they are UK – the company which own the brand is Ultimate Sports Engineering, which has been going for donkeys years, making relatively expensive stuff!

Definitely borrow some first to make sure you enjoy it (you will!).

I run a Hope Vision 4 on the bars and a helmet mounted Exposure joystick. They’re both fairly old but the V4 is perfectly adequate, the joystick is one of the first and only has 240 lumens (only!) so is lacking in some situations. I think they go way above 240 now.

No cables is important for helmet mount IMO, not so much for bar mount as most battery packs these days are relatively small and will tuck under stem or between top and downtube.

CP.

Thanks for the correction.
🙂

I run a Lumicycle XPG on the bars and a Gloworm on the helmet.

If you wanted a cheaper setup then consider the Gloworm on the bars and a cheap DX torch on your helmet (Ultrafire V6 – basically a Joystick for a 1/5 of the price).

You recon I could get away with just one light on the bars? Will try and borrow some before i buy. Thanks for the advice!

Depends on the bar light… And we’re not just talking Lumen output here…

If like Jedi and myself, you run one of Troutie’s creations, which just create a wall of usable light everywhere, there’s no real need for a supplementary head mounted light. If the beam of you bar lights is much spottier though, then a light on your bonce makes sense.

In my experience the cheap Chinese lights are capable of chucking out a lot of light for their price (though not as much as they often state by some margin!) but every one I’ve seen has had too focused and tight a spot beam for properly quick off road riding at night. And then I bought a 2nd hand Troutie lumen liberator, and despite not even being as bright in the centre as a Chinese XML light or the Exposure Maxx-D it replaced, there is just a wall of usable light from right in front of my tyre to the horizon, and from as far as I need ever look left or right…

The mtb batteries lights got reviewed recently in MBUK. They gave them 4 stars. Link to the review is here – http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/accessories/lights/sets/product/review-mtb-batteries-v2-xml-46489
As far as I can see, 1000 lumens for £89 incl postage can’t be beat. Also for the ignorant (like me) I’ve just worked out that posts on this thread referring to “Smudge” are referring to the same company. Seems like a complete and utter no brainer then!